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Leadership Lessons From Harpoon Brewery CEO Dan Kenary

Beer Hall at the Harpoon Brewery in the Seaport District of Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

It's not every day that I get invited to share a beer and a conversation with a cofounder and CEO of a brewery, which is why I jumped on the chance to do so yesterday, when Dan Kenary, CEO and Co-Founder of Harpoon Brewery invited me to meet with him at his brewery in the Boston Seaport. The purpose of my meeting was to interview Dan for my forthcoming book about magnetic leaders, as he was someone who was recommended to me as a magnetic leader. Here are some leadership lessons from my conversation with Dan.

People before beer and profits. Dan's passion for his employees and his beer are quite evident. Notice how I didn't say beer first? That's because for Dan, it's all about the people. "We couldn't do what we do here if everyone didn't do his or her job," notes Dan. "It all has to work in order for us to be successful." Of course I'd be remiss if I didn't tell you that he's quite passionate about the beer as well! And after having one of their samplers, which Dan personally selected for me, I can see why! But that's another story, which I will leave to the beer aficionados to write.

There is more to life than money. OK, you may be thinking that it is easy for someone who has money to believe this, and in most cases you'd probably be right. But not in this situation. When Dan's co-founder and partner decided he wanted out of the business, Dan took on new partners—his employees. He could have sold the company to a larger firm or taken money from another source. Instead he made the decision to give ownership of the company to his employees through an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan). "I did this because I wanted our employees to fully participate in the value that we are creating," states Dan. "I have an opportunity to do something with this that speaks to my values of giving back to the community and giving people a shot at something they may never have."

Culture first. Dan first response to just about every question that I asked him started with a discussion on culture. He believes that a company's culture must be nurtured daily. There isn't the division of labor at Harpoon Brewery that you typically see at companies. Anyone with the mentality of "this isn't my job" is quickly expunged from the organization, as the culture makes it impossible for these kind of people to feel comfortable staying. The company hosts a number of festival events annually, where every employee comes in to work the festival and does whatever job is required, with no attention paid to job title. At the end of the festival, everyone gathers in the beer hall to toast one another with a glass of beer (or root beer) in hand to celebrate their success. Celebrating success together is one of the many ways that Dan builds the culture at Harpoon Brewery. Our discussion ended with a reminder that culture isn't something that you establish and then you are good to go. Leaders must work on culture every single day.

Magnetism rules. Like many companies, finding the talent needed to fuel business growth has gotten more difficult for Harpoon Brewery than in prior years. For companies in major metropolitan areas like Boston, fully staffing the workforce can be particularly challenging due to the high cost of living associated with these areas. "We do what we can, so that people love their jobs so much that they put up with the challenges of doing so in an expensive place to live," notes Dan. He's aware of the challenges and doesn't take this lightly.

One gets the sense that Dan truly cares about the needs of his people, which explains why when I asked the question, "When I say the words, magnetic leader, who comes to mind?" his name was one of the first that I received. To your continued success and magnetism Dan. Looking forward to our next beer together. Cheers!

I help CEOs and executives in mid-market and Fortune 500 companies attract, develop, and retain talent.

2018 LinkedIn Top Voice in Workplace and Leadership. Highly

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I help CEOs and executives in mid-market and Fortune 500 companies attract, develop, and retain talent.

2018 LinkedIn Top Voice in Workplace and Leadership. Highly regarded keynote speaker and executive coach to talented leaders looking to boost their leadership skills, as well as their careers. Author of five books on leadership including the newly released Evergreen Talent and The Magnetic Leader. Sign up to receive my monthly newsletter, The Talent Maximizer.